Loon of Requirement
by SailorCopperOwl
Summary: Luna misses the training in the Room of Requirement so much that she spens a lot of time there. Like someone else. They can't help running into each other... HBP time, Luna/Draco
1. Chapter 1

**During The Half Blood Prince. I was sorry for noone coming to the Room of Requirement any longer, and I thought Luna might feel the same. And who would she find if she spent her time at the place she loved?**

* * *

><p>"Hello, Draco."<p>

Draco Malfoy spun around, eyes wide.

"What are you doing here? How did you get in here?"

Luna Lovegood, he knew her well. He knew all his enemies well.

She gave him a puzzled look.

"Same as you, of course. Three times pass, and wish sincerely, and the Room of of Requirement opens. You must know that, you are here, after all."

Draco's heart was still racing. There she stood, in her Ravenclaw colored school robe, with her long blond hair and that innocent expression on her face. So Potter was finally making an effort spying on him.

He considered his options. Attack her?

But there was a wand in her hand, casually pointing to the floor, but it was there. She was probably crazy. But she was a Ravenclaw. She wasn't stupid.

Unfortunately, she was also friends with his mortal enemy, and from all he knew, very well trained in attack and defense spells.

So, he should first try to talk himself out of this.

Damn. If he couldn't silence her, she could ruin it all!

"Of course I know how I got in here!" he snapped. "But how could you come in here after me? That's not possible!"

Luna smiled. "You sound like the door of our commonroom. But that's not really a difficult problem. That's something a first year could solve."

"What?"

With mindboggling patience, she explained it to him. "If we assume I haven't been able to come in after you, then I must have come...?"

"Before me? But then how could I come in?"

"I didn't close the room off behind me. It seemed a bit selfish to me to cut everyone else off this wonderful place when they might need it. Of course, I wasn't really busy in here like you, Draco. I just wander around. This is such an interesting room. I must have found the most amazing colony of nargles somewhere in here, which is quite an unusual habitat for them."

Draco told himself not to let himself be distracted by her chatter.

Why did she smile at him all the time? Why wasn't she afraid?

Of course, she had brought reinforcements with her.

"I have Crabbe and Goyle nearby," he said. "I can call them in any second."

"Oh, really?" smiled Luna. "So they are the girls you surround you with? I had been wondering about it. Polyjuice potion, I suppose. I shouldn't be surprised. I heard you're very good at potions, Draco."

"Thanks," growled Draco. Her voice was clear like an angel's. How could she stand there and compliment him and smile at him like this? What was she planning?

"Who did you bring and what are you buying them time for?" he asked directly. The subtle approach hadn't brought him very far with her.

Luna was perplexed.

"What are you talking about, Draco?" she said. Draco. Not Malfoy. She must be playing with him. A beautiful, pureblooded powerful witch had him at her mercy, playing with him, smiling at him. Through all the humiliation and danger, Draco couldn't deny the magnificience it had.

"You're spying on me," he stated.

"Yes."

"Do you have to smile all the time, damnit?"

"Smiling is an expression of good will and happiness," said Luna. "It's supposed to put the other at ease."

"At ease?" snapped Draco. "I'm supposed to be at ease when you hand me over to Potter?"

Now her face was earnest, for a moment. At least that was something.

"Do you think that's what I'm going to do?" she said. "What sense would it make to stand here and talk to you, when I could have cast a petrificus totalus into your back instead, if my intentions were hostile? What logic is that? You must have slept through all your arithmancy classes."

He had to admit she had a point here.

"But then what do you want?" he asked.

"I want to find out what it is you're doing here."

Wow. Twenty points for Ravenclaw for clarity, thought Draco sarcastically.

"And did you?" he asked, forcing himself to sound calm while panic ate a big hole into his stomach.

If she had, he was done for. Azkaban, or death through the Dark Lord's hands. If he was lucky.

"No. But it's very intriguing."

That smile again. Please, not that smile again.

"Listen, Lovegood... it's noone's business what I'm doing here. This room is for everyone in Hogwarts. Noone needs to spy at me and be intrigued. Leave me alone, have you got that? And if you tell anyone you've seen me in here... then... then I'm afraid you're not going to leave this room ever again."

"I'd have left in the first place, or why else would I be able to talk to someone?" she corrected him.

That was enough. She was right. He couldn't let her get away. If she left this room, everything was over.

Faster than ever before in his life, he flung his wand out.

He fell like a tree.

He had been right.

She was prepared, and she was really good.

While he had been careless, and deserved this.

At least he'd die figthting.


	2. Chapter 2

Finally, he could move again, but he was shaky and exhausted, and it took him a long time until he could walk again, and even longer until he had convinced himself that outside the door of this room wasn't a couple of aurors waiting for him already.

Yes, he could hear Crabbe and Goyle call for him occasionally, but it could be a trap.

In the end, it was the bitter realization that he could blow his cover and the mission by sitting here all night and be the one who got the blame if Lovegood had not ratted on him.

At least, he was house prefect of Slytherin, so no prefect coming to look for the student who was out at night. And Pansy, the other prefect and the girl he went out with, knew nothing about the mission, but enough about him to cover for him.

They made it back to their beds without being seen, but Draco couldn't feel relief.

This wasn't over yet.

He needed to think of a way to get rid of that Ravenclaw.

* * *

><p>It took him a lot to return to the Room of Requirement on the next day.<p>

He expected the whole Dumbledore army to be in there, waiting for him.

His body would never be found, like so many other things in the Room of Requirement.

He expected some traps at least. Something.

But there was nothing, no matter how hard he scanned.

So, in the end, he slowly got to the end of the room where the cabinet stood.

Only now, he couldn't get there.

A massive pile of rubble got in his way no matter from what direction he tried.

One thing broom flying lessons from early childhood on had given him was an excellent sense of direction. These aisles were reorganizing themselves to lead him away from the place he worked!

He managed to trick them by jumping over things into neighboring pathways, but he never got close enough to even see his cabinet.

Damn! He tried to remember a spell to clean up stuff, but he didn't know one. That was house elf work. And accio would probably reduce the old piece of furniture to matchsticks. All he could do was try to move faster.

Note to self: Never come here without your broom again.

"Are you lost, Draco?" a voice asked from behind him. A clear, soft voice. Hers.

He had his want out before she even had finished talking.

"Petrificus totalus!"

He missed, and only through sheer luck evaded her silent answering spell, and jumped out of her reach. He still could see her through a small opening between rusty stuff, but he doubted she could see him as well.

Burn her, stun her, or play the game?

Game.

"Stop it, Lovegood. I want to negotiate!" he called.

"What do you want to negotiate about?" she asked calmly. Argh, that soft voice, like she wasn't scared at all. It was nerve-wracking to get a response out of this girl. She had come alone again, it was unfathomable. She had to be pretty full of herself. Unfortunately, she was also very good at silent spells. She had every reason to be confident when it came to sheer battle force. But how about sneakery?

"How about us not casting attack spells on each other? I could cast a petrificus on you right now from where I'm standing. How about you leaving me alone in here?" he suggested.

"I like the first one," she said. "I'm afraid I can't do anything for you with the second one. Not before I haven't found out what you're planning."

Draco rolled his eyes.

Good to hear she seemed to be clueless. But he still needed her to lift that spell.

Time to level up.

"I'm coming out now, Lovegood," he announced, and slowly, with his wand pointing to the floor, came out. He had to suppress a yell of surprise and anger when he saw she still stood at the same place. She hadn't even bothered to look for cover.

"I'm going to put away my wand now, Lovegood," he said. "Then we talk."

He put his wand back into the pocket in his robe.

That was a great risk he was taking here. If her fearless pose was a lure, she'd curse him senseless now. Or worse. He had seen worse. He was prepared to do worse. He could only build on the hope that she wasn't.

Well, for now, she didn't start the next fight. She only stood there, Ravenclaw from head to toe, too clever for her own good. Too clever got people in trouble. He took himself some extra time to let his eyes wander over her shining hair. It was amazingly light, something he always felt drawn to. Well, for too obvious reasons, probably, because it looked damn good on everyone. It looked damn good on her, too. The school robes didn't reveal much else though. He knew her face, it was annoying. So were her eyes. But her legs... those weren't annoying at all. Wouldn't hurt to see more of them.

When she didn't start talking, he did. He kept a relaxed stance, but so that his hand could shoot into his robe any time. She'd certainly notice.

"Who did you tell about me?" he asked her.

"Noone. Why should I? Did you want me to tell people?"

"Of course not. Why did you come back then?"

"Because I still haven't found out what it is that you're doing in here," said Luna. "If it's a prank on Harry, I don't need to mention it, because you won't be able to harm him. But tif it's really really dangerous what you're doing in here, then exposing you might kill you. And I don't want you to be killed, Draco. So I will have to be very certain about what it is you're doing here before I tell anyone."

"Aw, you're worried about me," said Draco mockingly.

"Yes, of course," said Lovegood with that soft voice of her. "Draco, why do you want to help the vampire conspiracy in the ministery of magic get a hold of Hogwarts again? You might think vampires don't hurt you, Draco, but believe me, they won't spare you. Like werewolves, they go for the young."

He had to silence her. He couldn't take this crap any longer. Was she really lecturing him on being naive? Her smile, and her innocent expressions, he just had to wipe them off her.

He smiled at her.

"Lovegood," he said, slowly stepping closer to her. "Tell me, are you really that oblivious about the real reason why you come to meet me here?"

Not petrified yet. Good. And she was thinking about what he had said. Even better. Who knew it took that little to keep her little head busy?

"I think you're not," he said and smiled. "You sense perfectly well how much I am attracted to you. That's why you keep coming back."

Now he had fully confused her for that one second he needed.

For that one movement to snatch her, for that one kiss to silence her.

He surprised himself by making the kiss a lot less demanding than he had intended to. Oh well, she seemed to be the romantic type anyway.

Still, the girl was shocked. Her blue eyes opened wide, and she pushed him away.

He couldn't believe that she was taken aback like this. Looked like he had to make more of an effort next time.

Then she pulled out of his grip and ran. Without casting a petrificus on him.

So he had successfully driven her away. As it turned out, he had even broken her hold on the piles of the room. He should feel great.

Only somehow, this didn't feel like a success.

* * *

><p>He wasn't dumb enough to work on the cabinet while he knew she was still in the room, but there was still a lot of other preparations he could keep himself busy with.<p>

He didn't hear her anymore. He listened, he even used a spell to improve his hearing, but all he got was the usual rustling he was familiar with in this room. Nargles? Ha. Of course, it was rats. You could magically seal a room all you wanted, rats would always get through. And obviously, underlings of Potter.

Lovegood must move like a cat, because he didn't even hear her coming back until she startled him by speaking to him from not far away.

"I know what this is," she said reproachfully. "It's just another way of hiding my shoes."

Draco had no idea what she was talking about, but he couldn't help the huge smile on his face at the sound of her voice. Had she really come back? That little fool, could it be she would fall for him? He remembered the speeches grandfather had given him about how a real Malfoy dealt with women.

_Have them all, have them when you want, or how you want, that doesn't matter. But one thing you must keep in mind, that you will never part from them without a smile on their face. Never leave them grudging you. You'll meet them all later in your life, and your success as a wizzard will come on ten times faster and harder if the witches you come across have you in good memory._

He hadn't really taken it seriously. He'd promised his granddad to follow his words, and out of caution, had done so.

But hey, that old bat hadn't been entirely dumb. It looked like if he played his cards right, he could turn the Lovegood girl away from Potter. Not only would this save his mission - not to mention his life - but also be infinitely satisfying.

The moment he had made his decision, his smile toned down several shades into his usual smirk. He knew he had to be convincing now, and not overdo it by acting out of character.

"What are you talking about, Lovegood?" he asked, not hiding his annoyance.

"I know you only did this to play tricks on me," she said. "You didn't mean it."

"Didn't mean it?" sneered Draco. "Listen, Lovegood, do you really think I have no standards? No pride? No taste? Do you think I'm blind? Lovegood, you are crazy, dress worse than a house elf and cling to the wrong kind of people. But you're a beautiful and awe inspiring girl, as magnifient as a pureblooded witch can ever be, you make my heart race and there's not a witch on the whole school that I'd rather kiss than you."

"You kiss Parkinson."

"I do," admitted Draco. "But you have to have slept through all your arithmancy classes if you think that proves anything. Jealous?"

"No." Her wand might be half raised, but that was not a very firm no.

"Good. Because when I kiss you again, I don't want you to be distracted by other girls."

Lovegood, the nice, mild mannered Lovegood sneered and raised her wand.

"Kiss me again? You wish."

"Oh, yes, I do." Draco sighed, and dropped the smirk. "Listen, Lovegood. These are weird times. You came here to protect my life. I'd never have expected that from you. I appreciate that. And damn, you look hot when you raise that wand at me. So, I guess tomorrow, you'll be back, and point that wand at me again. Fine. I'm looking forward to see you again. Don't think that because I'm a Slytherin, I'm not a human being, or have no feelings."

She was a romantic. She'd buy it. No need to tell her that the feelings he got out of their little game mainly happened in his pants. He gave her another smile, hoping to get one in return.

She didn't have an answer for him, only slowly retreated backwards, until she could dive into an aisle and out of his sight.

Hm. That wasn't a smile on her face when they had parted. But she hadn't petrified him either.

They were making progress.

Not too bad.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I'm very very sorry for the delay of updates. Writing has gone slow lately, even with two chapters half finished already. I even thought of skipping the Feegle incident, but then couldn't bring myself to do it. The Nac Mac Feegles are of course an hommage to the amazing Tiffany Aching books by Terry Pratchett. **

**Thank you everyone who reviewed or favourited or put the story on alert, the huge interest in this story has made me very happy! So, wonderful readers, I hope you enjoy the new chapters!**

**Edit: I changed the order of scenes and chapters. It's still the same stuff, but I think it makes more sense like this.**

* * *

><p>The next day, Draco saw nothing of Luna, although he was pretty certain she was there.<p>

It was to be expected. She didn't look like the type who could deal with a kiss.

Patience, Draco, he told himself.

You absolutely can't afford to lose her, and you want her, so play this one real well.

She had been coming for the romantic part. Very well. He could do romantic in his sleep.

Time for flowers.

Draco's grandfather had once told him in all seriousness that the Reverse Accio had been developed for exactly this purpose, to send your lover flowers. And he had insisted in drilling that spell into the boy who wasn't the age to care for this kind of thing, but didn't have a choice when it came to lessons in Malfoy manners.

So, being the Malfoy that he was, he transfigured a rolled piece of paper into a beautiful pink flower, and with a perfectly elegant curve, the Reverse Accio found the hidden girl and delivered. So she was there after all. He knew it.

Draco grinned. What a great spell to detect an enemy in hiding. He liked his grandfather a lot more now.

The flower came back, thrown most unelegantly over an aisle. Lovegood didn't even bother with levitation.

Draco sent her another one.

"Not the right color, Ravenclaw? Perhaps you like blue better?"

And after that one came back, another one.

"Red like radish then?"

Draco didn't get any work done that day, but man, did he get good at flowers.

Only problem was, Lovegood didn't seem to be the flower kind.

* * *

><p>The next day, he brought chocolate.<p>

No girl could resist chocolate, right?

The chocolate was thrown back rather harshly.

Like the butterbeer toffee, and every other kind of candy he tried.

"Are you on a diet? Don't be ridiculous, you're looking perfect!"

Icy silence answered that one.

Man, this had better been worth all the hassle.

For a while, Draco entertained himself with the thoughts of casting an Accio on her. Or at least her panties.

But a furious Lovegood, fascinating as it might be to look at when she would be flying towards him, her long hair fluttering behind her and her whole wrath concentrating on the tip of her wand, had a little drawback of most probably hurting him in ways he didn't particutlarily care for.

He told the little Malfoy in his pants not to get his hopes up yet.

This was going to take some more time.

But he had a good idea what a Ravenclaw girl might like.

* * *

><p>Next time, he brought an owl, and tied an old parchment to its leg.<p>

"Don't hurt the poor thing, Lovegood!" he yelled through the room. "Just take the message. It's an interesting old document I found in here. You'll like it."

The owl came back with the document untouched.

"Do you want me to send it to your classroom instead?"

She obviously didn't deem this worth an answer. Owls weren't allowed in classrooms. But on the other hand, there was always a way to get an owl somewhere.

"I take that as a yes."

* * *

><p>He so did it. Made a school owl ready, but put her in a cage that he hexed to open while Lovegood had Potions.<p>

* * *

><p>That afternoon, he went to the Room of Requirement without hesitating, He was looking forward to see the little Ravenclaw witch again and mess with her spying mind some more. He would be even more careful not to reveal to her what he was doing, because as long as it was a secret, she would come back.<p>

So on today's list was: get more samples of the paint on the cabinet and some neighboring furniture to be not too obvious. She knew where he was heading, but she couldn't be certain what he'd do because lately, he'd been mostly working on a trial nightstand.

Identify the ingredients of paint. Write recipe. Kiss Lovegood again.

"Project going well, huh?" asked Crabbe. Or rather, the little girl whose form he was still using.

"No talking about that in the corridors," he just answered. "And you can take yourselves some hours off, it'll be a long day today. Just be there before dinner."

* * *

><p>He left the Room of Requirement open after him this time. Wouldn't want to have her scratching at the door if she was late. After all, he couldn't expect her to skip Ancient Runes forever on Thurdays.<p>

He was rewarded with a Lovegood that had finally lost her mild smile as she stormed towards him that afternoon.

She didn't have a wand pointed at him, but yes, her hair was flying and her wrath was most impressive.

"Have you lost your mind?" she asked him angrily instead of a greeting.

Draco only look up for a quick smile at her, then he continued sorting paint chips into little paper bags.

"Aw, your talking to me again. Then it was totally worth it."

"I got _detention!_"

"Did you read the document?"

"No. I never had detention before. And I didn't even do anything wrong. That's unfair."

Draco carefully folded and laid out the little paper bags in front of him. Sooner or later, it would have to distract her.

"Look, Lovegood, here in the Room of Requirement we have a safe place for being together. I risk a lot if there will be even the shadow of a doubt that I kiss one of Potter's underlings. If you force me to hit on you outside this room, I can make this a lot more unpleasant than today."

"I don't force you to do anything."

He looked up.

"Oh, yes? You're stalking me. You're threatening me. You're hexing me. You awake all these feelings in me. But you're such a pure and innocent girl that this makes you totally not having any part of me losing my mind over you, is that so? Lovegood, I told you to leave me alone, didn't I? You could have retreated into the shadows and pretended you weren't there any more. But you wanted to talk to me. Am I right?"

"Yes."

Without a second of hesitation. Wow. That got him off guard for a tiny second.

"I was hoping you would say that. But, seriously, Lovegood - why? Why talk to me? You have a whole Army out there to talk to."

She had not. Sure, she talked to some of them, occasionally. But since Harry had lost interest in training them, it was awkward to meet. Like doing it behind his back. Only Neville was sometimes coming over to her, and asked her how she was doing.

"I see," said Draco, when she didn't answer. "You like being with me more than being with them. And you're wondering why I'm answering so strongly to your attention?"

She lifted a hand to push a strand of her shining hair behind her ear. She didn't look so angry any more. And she had given the paint samples a closer look.

"Think about it like this, Lovegood," he said, while he was carefully writing down numbers on the bags with the paint samples. Not names of furniture. He didn't have to make it too easy for her. Man, he needed more samples next time if he was going to give long speeches. He could feel her eyes watching his hands. Every girl loved seeing him work with his hands. He gave her a smile with a half turned head. "The way things are going, I'm going to be in here a lot. Unless you're not giving up easily, we'll spend a lot of time together. Time that you won't be able to spend on experiencing with boys. Time that you won't be able to spend on anything. Time that will simply be lost. While you will be staring at me. I might be revealing a big secret and make losing that time worth it, or I might not. I might get bored and open my pants and reveal another big secret... and you want to stand there and stare at me for how long? Weeks? Months?"

"I'm not staring at you."

"Oh, you're not. I see. I must be mistaken when you make me feel all naked just by looking at me. Lovegood, why deny you have feelings too?"

She didn't answer that one, and Draco was raking his mind for another good point, when she finally had an answer.

"I don't have feelings for you. I will admit I have a... kind of reaction towards you. But I won't confuse that with love. We aren't friends, Draco."

"Of course not! I would be deadly stupid to be friends. My goodness! Lovegood, I don't ask for your friendship. You might be romantic and think getting laid equals being loved, but come on, you know it doesn't have to! You could have great, satisfying sex with me. I think you're very exciting, and you think the same of me, or you wouldn't be here. That's all we need."

"That's all you need."

"Aren't you curious at all? You, a Ravenclaw? Think you can learn it out of books, huh? Here's your chance to learn about boys without all the burdens and complications of a relationship. These are tough times, Lovegood. No need to weaken yourself with affection."

He expected her to bring up Pansy again. But she didn't. She must have gotten the message. Clever girl. And brave enough not to run out in panic this time. She was staying. That was good. But she was still so hesitant. Too hesitant.

He pulled his sweater over his head before he sorted the paint samples into a box. Girls liked him in the white shirt.

"What is it, Lovegood? Not liking what you see?"

"Excuses, Draco. You're playing with me again. But I haven't come to be your plaything, Draco. I'm still here to find out what you are doing in this room."

_Don't worry, Lovegood, I have fun playing already._

"Aw, you're hurting my pride, Lovegood," he grinned "You don't trust me to play well."

"Or rather, play fair," replied Luna coolly.

Draco laughed. "That depends on the rules, I'd say. But what would I win if I fucked up our nice little dates, can you tell me that?"

"Humiliate me?" was Luna's guess.

Draco sneered. "I'd humiliate myself if I did that. I told you, I do have my pride."

"You don't seem to have a problem with making a fool of yourself when it comes to angering Harry," stated Luna. Not quite as cool as before.

Draco grinned and looked at her directly. "I only do that to people I despise. But I don't despise you, Lovegood. I'm annoyed by you. You have to be pretty clever and resourceful to find me in here. I respect that. Otherwise, I would have hexed you a love bite on your neck last time and let everyone guess who did it."

The girl didn't answer to that, but looked disgusted. Served her well.

Draco took himself time to prepare his notebook, wand, and sample #1.

"Specialis Revelio," he muttered. Not a spell that a fifth year student like Lovegood was supposed to know, so this would no doubt massively distract her.

It did. Good to know she loved spells. He had lots of them.

He scribbled the results of the spell into his notebook, and prepared the next one.

For the duration of one or two revelation spells, she kept silently watching him.

When she finally spoke, she surprised him.

"Let me ask you something as well, Draco. Why are you lonely?"

His sly mask dropped for a moment.

"What?" He caught himself again. "I'm not lonely. I'm surrounded by friends all day. Don't think I only want you because I'm desperate. Don't think so lowly of yourself."

"I don't see your friends in here."

"In here, Lovegood, I am lonely by choice."

She nodded.

He smiled. "You don't understand that, do you? You're lonely, but you've not been looking for it."

Now she shook her head. "No. Well, sometimes. But sometimes, I want to think and need some silence."

"And sometimes, you need someone to talk to and unfortunately, there's noone but me."

Now, when he had almost given up on it, she smiled at him.

"Don't think so lowly of yourself, Draco."

Wow, he liked that smile.

Grandfather had been a damn genius.

He desperately wanted to propose some nice foreplay to her, but he held back when he saw her walk away. Let her leave with a smile on her face. It almost physically hurt to let her win this round. But if it was bringing him one step closer to his goal, he had to endure it. Man, being mature was such a hassle. Why again had he wanted to grow up as soon as possible?

Think of her hair, he told himself. Think of your hands running through her hair while your body presses her to the wall and your lips finally do something against that smile...

Soon... very soon...


	4. Chapter 4

Draco couldn't believe his luck when at the next day, he found a tiny blue guy with a long orange beard and a checkered kilt lying unconsciously on the floor. He was bleeding, obviously rats and nargles didn't get along so well in here. Ah, this would get her attention for certain. She loved those critters, right?

He took the little guy to the place where he had last met Lovegood, and placed him on a rag that was lying on a chair.

"Hey, Lovegood, come and look at this! I caught one! Is that a nargle? Wow, look how tiny he is. Hey, little blue thing, talk to me. Oh my, I think he's unconscious. Aw, he's hurt, but how bad is it? Man, I don't know squat about these critters. Maybe I should try some healing spells on him? Wow, did you see that, he deflects magic, even in this state. I wonder what would happen if I dealt him a battle spell. One... two..."

"Stop it already, Draco!"

There she came, almost running, and bore an untypically cold look into him.

"That's not a nargle, that's a Feegle."

Instantly, Draco made a step back. He knew enough about Feegles to leave them alone, only he had never seen one before.

"Are you certain? I thought they were a lot bigger. Considering four of them can carry a sheep away..."

"They can. They're very strong. I know Feegles, and this is one, and where there's one, there is usually a dozen..." her voice trailed out as she looked around to see any more of them. There was an unusual amount of rustling around them.

"Hey, I didn't know it's a Feegle, I found him hurt like this, and I tried to heal him!" called Draco into the room.

"Ach, stick it up yer trakkens!" some tiny voice snarled.

More rustling. Uncomfortably, Luna looked at Draco, but he didn't know what to do either.

"Put your wand away, Draco," she said. "You can never hit them all. Better not threaten them."

She took a deep breath. "Nac Mac Feegle. We apologize if we did something that upsets you. We don't mean no harm to the Free Men. Please come and get your comrade, he's not feeling well."

"Ach, the Wee Big Hag is scared now?" hissed a tiny but unmistakeably angry voice, and more angry voice joined in from all around them. That wasn't good. Not good at all.

"Watch what you're calling her," snarled Draco. "She's done nothing, but she knows some wicked spells, you better leave her alone."

That earned him a storm of swear words, and the first object were thrown at them.

Automatically, Luna and Draco stood back to back and raised their wands.

"I told you, don't threaten them!" hissed Luna.

"Like it would have made any difference what we'd say to them," hissed Draco back, deflecting a set of forks that came flying towards his face. "If there's a fight in sight, they're going to head for it. Spare your breath for your spells, Lovegood."

Draco couldn't see her, but he was certain she was making a face at his words.

Only they didn't have time for that now, because the Feegles were cheering and throwing more things, and more and more of them came out of hiding to swear at them and hop up and down.

Luna had been right, Feegles were very strong. The items they threw became bigger, and pointier, and they were fast. They hurt. Draco let out a loud yell when something sharp hit his face right next to his eye. The Feegles cheered, and whole swarms of sharp objects came flying the same way, piercing the hands Draco had put up to protect his eyes.

"Dobby!" Draco yelled out without realizing it. "Help me!"

Luna was surprised this was the name on his lips when he was in danger, and from Draco's reaction, he was surprised, too. They were even more surprised when with a loud pop an elf apparated between them. He was not a house elf. He was a free alf and wore actual clothing, lots of it, and he was obviously very color-happy.

The cheers and rain of objects stopped immediately, although the cursing remained and even got more colorful.

Luna knew this elf, Harry had been talking of him.

"Good evening, Mr. Dobby," she said.

"Good evening, Miss Lovegood," said the elf, who obviously knew her as well, and he didn't bow. "Young Master, you called me?" he greeted Draco, and again, he didn't bow. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Ach, crivens!" hissed the Feegles. "Lookit the Wee Big Elf. Thinks he's so clever. But everyone can git into a room by magic. 's not like he has skills."

But it was clear that the Feegles were keeping a respectful distance to the elf, and the angry cursing lost a bit of its edge and its volume.

Draco gave Dobby a somewhat embarassed smile.

"I found this Feegle unconscious on the floor, and tried to help him, and now these critters are mad at me."

These critters weren't taking that description very well. They cursed Draco again in full voice, and one of them threw something spiky and rusty at Draco. It only took Dobby a wave of his hand, and the rusty spike fell to the ground with a loud clang.

Dobby carefully took the little unconscious blue man into his hand. The cursing stopped immediately, although some angry buzz of murmurs kept on.

"You will find your brother outside the castle," he said. "You should hurry to find him before something else does."

And with that word, and a loud 'pop', the little blue man vanished from the palm of his hand, and shortly after that, and with some fierce cursing, his clan mates followed.

* * *

><p>Dobby sighed with relief when they were gone, and turned towards Draco.<p>

"Please, the young Master shouldn't be here," said Dobby, and his face took on a sorrowful expression. "The young Master shouldn't have bad secrets. And what did he bring the young Miss Lovegood here for?"

Draco sneered. "I didn't bring her. She's spying on my for Potter."

"Ooooh..." sighed Dobby, turning his eyes admiringly to Luna. "Miss Lovegood is so brave and noble... it's such an honor for Dobby to help her out."

He turned back to Draco in a quick movement, and put on an angry frown.

"Young Master, stop coming here doing bad things! Stop plotting against Mr Potter!" he demanded. "Dobby is telling you this as an old friend!"

"Hah!" sneered Draco with utter contempt. "Why should I listen to you, Dobby?_ 'Dobby will always be your friend, young Master.'_ Yeah, great friend. Haven't seen you in all those years that you've been out having fun. All I've faced in these times, I had to face alone. And you're turning up now preaching on me? Go away, Dobby. I don't need a friend like that."

Tears filled Dobby's eyes.

"Please, young Master..." he tried, but Draco only made a disgusted face.

"Draco, he came today, when you needed him," said Luna.

Draco sneered. "Thanks, Dobby. Thanks for humbling yourself doing something for me when I'm begging. And now go away and serve Potter again."

Despite his tears, Dobby took a deep breath and stood very upright. "Dobby is not a servant anymore."

"Yes, you deserted me out of your free will. Been here in Hogwarts for who knows how long and not even a card on my birthday. I get the message. But you know what? I get by. I don't need you. I was raised not to expect much from a house elf, and you certainly didn't disappoint those expectations. But would it have been so far beneath you to show a spark of gratitude towards my mother? She cared for you. She healed you when you were sick. And you couldn't just leave her to her fate fast enough."

His face became a mask of contempt. "So don't you dare to tell me what to do or not. Potter took away you. Then my father. Then my godfather. There's noone left to protect us but me. I'll do anything it takes to keep my family safe. Anything. If you have any loyalty left, any at all, you keep out of my way. Am I making myself clear?"

"Yes, Mr Malfoy," said Dobby. "But, Mr Malfoy... many nights Dobby sat by the young Mr Malfoy's cradle when he was small, Dobby fed him and brought him his toys. These were happy times for Dobby. Happy times. The young Mister grew up in front of Dobby's eyes, and Dobby wishes no harm to come to him. Dobby would never do anything to harm young Mr Malfoy."

It was the familiar harmony in the elf's voice that made Draco snap. He knew it was futile, but he pulled out his wand and pointed it right between his former house elf's big eyes.

"Leave, you liar!" he yelled. "I don't ever want to see you again."

"Yes, Mr Malfoy. Dobby will leave you as you wish."

He made a few steps backwards, until he was standing next to Luna.

He took her hand and shot her a pleading look.

"Please don't come here any longer. These are bad times. Young Mr Malfoy doesn't know where he's steering."

Luna smiled. "But he can learn."

Dobby smiled back at her, and nodded.

With a pop he vanished. But Luna felt like the warmth of his smile lingered with her a while longer.

Draco put down his wand and turned away from Luna.

"Are you two done pitying me?" he asked coldly.

"Noone is pitying you. You know he didn't promise you those things out of his free will, at the time when he was a house elf," said Luna.

"Don't treat me like I'm stupid!" hissed Draco. "It would have been a house elf's words if he had said 'I will always serve you' or 'I will always be by your side'. But he promised me friendship. And look how much that words have been worth!"

Luna sighed. "Maybe this is his way of being friendly. After all, he only tried to talk some sense into you. He seems to care about you."

"Words are cheap, Lovegood. Easy to care for me in here where I'm safe. If he cared, he'd be with me out there."

Luna frowned. But she found nothing she could say to this.

For a while, none of them said anything. Draco just stood there, the wand in his hand, staring on the floor. The Room of Requirement had a lot of things on his floors that could keep one's eyes busy for a while.

Luna watched him. After all, that was what she was here for. Watch Draco.

"What is it, Lovegood?" said Draco finally, without looking at her. "Fancy a little consolation fuck or would you mind leaving me alone for today?"

Luna wanted neither, but if he put it this way...

"Calm down, Draco," she said. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

Slowly, she walked away.

But for the wand in his hand, she rather took the very next turn to another aisle.

She had a very, very bad feeling leaving him behind like this, but if she didn't want to put her arms around him and give him ideas, there was nothing she could do for him.

And she didn't like that thought at all.

She had said he could learn, and he wouldn't learn from that. It hurt her Ravenclaw soul.

Things had to change.

Things had to change a lot.

Because Luna Lovegood liked things to make sense.

And this didn't.


	5. Chapter 5

Today, things would be different.

Luna walked straight towards Draco, a determined look on her face, and a book clutched to her chest.

Draco had no idea what she was up to, but that made it all the better.

"Draco, I've been thinking about what you said. I want you to read this book."

Draco grinned, he had already recognized it from the little that he could see between Luna's arms that pressed the book to herself. Everyone who had ever read it would recognize this book immediately.

"What, _'Indispensible knowledge for wizards and witches at the threshold of adulthood - Illustrated edition'_? I know it. I read it years ago."

"Oh, I thought you would. But this one is different."

"What, more illustrations?"

Luna shot him that universal look girls shoot boys at comments like that.

"No. I want you to read this one because I have marked all the chapters I want to do with you."

_"What?"_

"You said I should take the chance to satisfy my curiousity on you, and these chapters made me curious. And chapter three says it's very important to discuss your wishes and expectations with each other."

"But not like ordering them out of a catalogue, damnit!"

Luna shot him a smug look he'd never seen on her before.

"Being romantic, Draco?" she said with an extra angelic sweetness in her voice.

"No! Just... this is... Lovegood, you haven't even properly kissed me yet, and you've already planned out a number of ways you want to get laid? Aren't you probably rushing things a bit? Chapter two, in case you want to look it up!"

"Is that you talking about your wishes? You want me to kiss you?"

Draco moaned.

"You don't seriously expect me to follow a script out of a book, Lovegood. Because I do things my way. The only thing you need to find out is whether you like that or not."

"So this is your way?" she asked. She wasn't getting loud, or sharp, but her face suddenly had a certain tension. She was angry. That wasn't good. He couldn't afford angering her to the point of not coming back. But damn, it was funny.

"Draco, you promised me you'd be there to show me things I want to see, and the minute I get serious about it, you start complaining and backing out of it? Were you _lying at me_?"

Wow. Yes, I was, little Loony. I am lying to everyone, all the time, pretending to be an ordinary, rules-abiding student. You better get used to it. But first, you need to stop making scenes.

"So I am the one to blame?" he replied coldly. "When you haven't been listening to what I said? Has it ever occured to you that all the problems you have with people come from you not listening?"

"I did listen!" she insisted, but already with less venom. He had presented her head a little puzzle, and she couldn't help but go for the bait.

"No, you didn't. What I said was that you could explore things with me. What I didn't say was you could order them, and get them handed over on a silver plate. I'm not a delivery boy."

"Then you weren't listening either, Draco," she countered, still angry, "I wasn't saying anything about what you were supposed to be doing. I just told you what _I _want to do. Whether this is something you want to do, or would do with me, hasn't even been touched yet."

Draco suddenly wondered if this game really had been such a good idea. He had thought he could impress a virgin with some well done simple beginner's levels, and now he got presented a whole wishlist of walkthroughs, with a serious face, and she wanted to tell him all about them in all detail? "I've never seen anyone as one track minded as you, Lovegood. You're still trying to make me 'discuss our relationship', and shit... Here's a little secret for you: Boys don't do that kind of thing. You want to know what I can do? Go and find out. No talking about it. Before, or after, or ever. Okay?"

Obviously not okay. She just stared at him, the book clutched to herself, disapproval written all over her face. She'd make a great house teacher, he realized. Without a word, she could make a Slytherin cringe inside.

Oh man, he had to do something. There was no way he would do that whole let's-talk-about-it thing that was already annoying him no end with Pansy, but Pansy was a friend, and he needed her to cover his away times.

This, on the other hand, was for fun. For pure, straight-to-the-pants, fuck-what's-Potter's fun. And he had to keep her on board for it. He wanted her to be the one who wanted it the most.

And now he had scared her. Of course he had to draw the line early. Now he had to fluff it up a bit.

"Look, Lovegood... I'll be totally frank and honest with you." She loved honest? He would get her brutally honest. "This is for your own protection. You can't sit down with a boy who's having the hots for you and tell him how you want to do it with him and make him look at five dozen illustrated positions without said boy having a total brainmelt, ripping his clothes off and jumping you with a dragon's roar."

That brought a dark red blush to her face, and a tiny smile.

"I see you get the picture," said Draco and grinned. Damn, did it feel good to finally blow her cool. And damn, he had been totally honest about it. Two minutes with Lovegodd AND the book, and he'd illustrate a few things to her all right. This little Ravenclaw angel of innocense with her unrealistic book-based fantasies made him harder than anything he could remember, and that included some things Pansy was incredibly amazing at. "So stop being so rational about it, Lovegood. Rational's not going to help you in bed, believe me. Sex isn't going to be something you'll want to brag about in arithmancy class."

That broadened her smile.

"Oh, you wouldn't believe the really interesting subjects in advanced classes," she said, and coming from her, it didn't sound like a joke. "So, I guess you won't read this book? You really don't want to know what I'll be up to?"

Draco laughed.

"You don't know a thing about boys," he stated. "Because if you would, you'd stop bugging me and just leave the book where I can find it when you're gone."

The reproachful look on her face was priceless.

"I would never do that," she said. "That's stupid. But..." and now her voice had that soft calm quality again, "sometimes I can bea bit clumsy. I might bump into things and lose a book without even knowing it."

"By pure accident. Fully unintentional."

"Exactly."

She grinned? Yes, that was the Loony smile with a sharper edge.

That brought a grin on Draco's face too.

"You know, Lovegood, sometimes you think like a boy."

"Oh, but that's not hard. A first-year could do that."

He was surprised that he could grin at that lousy retort.

But that embarassing lapse of pride didn't hurt so much, because she was suddenly crossing the distance between them and kiss him. Not seriously, just a light touch with her lips on his. From everyone else, it would have felt cold. But from her, this was incredible. He needed all his willpower not to sling his arms around her, pull, her close, feel her breath and her heartbeat and her soft skin and kiss her senseless...

He was still grinning when she was gone.

It was a bit later when it dawned on him that as ridiculous as it sounded to him to plan out one's sex life out of a menu, she had probably been serious about it. She was a Ravenclaw, she believed what books told her, right? Even the stuff in the 30s chapters? Had she marked those too? Was she that insane?

If anyone was, it was her.

He could picture her with the book in her hands, and a mildly puzzled look on her face and then a determined one...

He dropped everything and sped off to look for the damn book.


End file.
